An Indian-origin woman, Saritha Ramaraju, 48, has been accused of murdering her 11-year-old son after reportedly slitting his throat. This happened following a three-day Disneyland trip, while on a custody visit in Santa Ana, California.
Ramaraju, who had divorced her husband in 2018 and relocated out of California, was visiting her son in Santa Ana. She had bought three-day Disneyland tickets for the two of them and was scheduled to drop him back to his father on March 19. Instead, at about 9:12 a.m. on that day, she called 911, admitting that she had murdered her son and taken pills in a possible suicide attempt.
When the Santa Ana police arrived, they found the boy’s lifeless body on the motel bed, surrounded by Disney souvenirs. Authorities believe he had been dead for several hours before Ramaraju called for help. A large kitchen knife, purchased by the accused the day before, was recovered from the motel room. After consuming an unidentified substance, Ramaraju was hospitalized before being arrested on Thursday.
Ramaraju is charged with one count of felony murder and a second count of the felony use of a deadly weapon for personal gain. If found guilty, she could be sentenced up to 26 years to life, said the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
Custody Battle and Charges
According to court documents, Ramaraju and her former husband, Prakash Raju, had been locked in a custody battle over their son since last year. Though Raju retained primary custody of their child after their 2018 divorce, Ramaraju had visitation rights. She had complained about her ex-husband making independent decisions on the medical and educational needs of their child without involving her. She also claimed he had a drug abuse history and control tendencies, stating that their son was “very scared to talk to mother as he will get into trouble with dad.”
Raju, nonetheless, refuted these claims that his former wife was “making false and unsubstantiated allegations of completely untrue abuse and drug abuse problems.”
District Attorney’s Statement
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer denounced the act, underlining how the disagreement between parents must never place a child’s life in danger. “The life of a child should never be held in the balance by two parents who have more hate for each other than love for their child,” he said.
Anger makes you forget who you love and what you are to do. A child’s safest place should be in the arms of their parents. Rather than embracing their son in love, she cut his throat and in the most cold-blooded act of fate tore him out of the very existence she brought him into,” he continued.
Ramaraju, who had settled in Fairfax, Virginia, was eager for her son to relocate with her. This fateful incident, though, happened against the backdrop of their continuing litigation, which had resulted in her arrest and potential life imprisonment should she be found guilty.
